Spectator shelter



P 1962 F. A. DE JEAN, JR 3,052,25

SPECTATOR SHELTER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 22, 1959 Felix .4. DeJean, Jr.

INVENTOR.

BY QM WW Z9 Sept. 4, 1962 F. A. DE JEAN, JR

SPECTATOR SHELTER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 22, 1959 a m w D A. .M Q

m m V m United States Patent 3,ll52,251 SPECTATOR SHELTER Felix A. De Jean, Jr., 117 N. Court, ()pelousas, La. Filed Apr. 22, 1959, Ser. No. 8%,071 2 Claims. (Cl. 1355) This invention relates to shelters and more particularly to a portable, collapsible spectator shelter.

An object of the invention is to provide a portable folding shelter adapted to attach to a seat, for instance a seat in a stadium, arena or other indoor or outdoor building, utilizing the permanent seat as such and also utilizing the seat as a means for supporting the shelter by attachment of a pair of upright posts at the rear corners of the shelter.

Briefly, the shelter is composed of a lightweight framework or frame structure capable of being folded to facilitate storage and carrying and supporting a covering in such a manner that it forms at least a partial enclosure for one or more spectators, protecting them from wind, rain, snow, hail or direct sun rays.

The shelter frame is made of a pair of posts with easily used clamps at the lower end thereof attached to the seat, together with hinged roof beams or arms attached to the upper part of the corner posts and capable of freely swinging in an upward direction such as required when the spectator jumps up in a moment of excitement or when the spectator wishes to elevate the roof for some other reason. There is a stop for each beam establishing the upward limit for the swinging movement of the roof so that it will not interfere with the spectators behind the shelter.

The shelter may be made in a simple form without lateral adjustment and of a size to accommodate one or more fans. On the other hand, by a very slight structural alteration the shelter may be made in a form capable of extension laterally to accommodate two or more fans. A front covering for the shelter is an optional feature.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a shelter showing it in the open position and fastened in place on a seat.

FIGURE 2 is a cross sectional view of the seat, showing the shelter of FIGURE 1 in side elevation.

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken on an enlarged scale and taken along the line 33 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 44 of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of FIGURE 3 and on an enlarged scale.

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of a part of the frame of the shelter.

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary perspective view showing one of the beams in a fully raised position.

FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a corner detail of the shelter.

FIGURE 9 is a fragmentary perspective view showing one of the corner posts in a collapsed position, together with one of the roof beams.

FIGURE 10 is a perspective view of a modification of the shelter.

FIGURE 11 is a fragmentary elevational view of a coupling used in the modification of FIGURE 10, parts being broken away to illustrate details of construction.

In the accompanying drawings there is shown a conventional seat 12. This seat is preferably the stationary or bleacher seat of an arena, stadium or the like and is used as an anchorage for the frame '14 of the shelter. The frame 14 consists of two rear corner posts 16 and 18, each of which has a C-clamp 2t) and 22 at the lower extremity thereof. Both =C-clamps are identical and as shown in FIGURE 5 the preferred construction is to have a lateral extension or right angularly bent portion 24 at the lowermost extremity of post 16 and to have a thumb screw 26 carried by arm 23. Arm 28 is parallel to extremity 24 and has a tapped opening 36 through which said screw 26 passes. A swivel plate 32 on the lower end of said thumb screw 26 abuts the top surface of seat 12 when fastening post to to the seat. The inner end of arm 28 has a sleeve 34 Welded or otherwise secured thereto. There is a thumb screw Ed in a tapped opening of side Wall of sleeve 34, and the thumb screw engages a selected area on upright post 16 whereby the arm 28 may be moved along the length of post 16 for adjustment with respect to extremity 24 of post 16. Final adjustment and final clam-ping is achieved by tightening thumb screw 26.

Mounted on the posts 16 and 18 is a canopy lit comprising two cantilever beams or arms 33 and 4t} constituting roof beams, attached to the upper extremities of the two posts 16 and 18. Beam 38 is attached to the post 16 by means of a pivot 42 and is maintained in a horizontal position by engagement of stop 4-4 with stop 46. The stop 44 is a small plate or protuberance of some other type that is fixed to the beam 355 intermediate the front and rear ends thereof. The stop 46 is made of an angulated end of flat brace 48 whose lower end is pivoted by pin 50 to ear 52. The ear is secured to upright post 16 intermediate the upper and lower ends thereof. Consequently, the weight of beam 18 tends to move the beam in a downward direction by hinged motion about the longitudinal axis of pivot However, the downward movement is established by having the stop 46 contacting a small part of the lower surface of beam 38 and contacting a surface of stop 46. With this organization beam 38 is capable of swinging upward from a horizontal position, but the upward extent of movement of the beam is limited by engagement of beam 38 with the stop 52. The stop 52 is welded or otherwise secured to the upper extremity of post 16 and projects a very short distance into the path of travel of beam 38 as the beam is being hingedly moved in an upward direction.

Transverse brace 56 is separably attached to the upper end of posts 16 and 18. The transverse brace is coupled to posts 16 and 18 at each end in an identical fashion. Clamp 58 (FIGURE 6) which is used to make the connection consists of a sleeve so secured to one end of transverse brace 56 and carrying a thumb screw 62. The thumb screw is threaded in a tapped opening in the sleeve and penetrates the bore of the sleeve. Laterally projecting lug 64 is fixed to the upper end of post 16 and is of dimension to fit into sleeve to. When fitted therein the clamp 58 is closed by tightening thumb screw 62 so that its inner end bears against the surface of lug 64.

Covering 68 for the shelter is detachably secured to the beams and transverse brace and optionally secured to the posts. Typical covering 68 is flexible and may be transparent. For instance there are numerous plastic materials commercially available at the present time which form excellent coverings. Covering 68 has a pair of side panels 7t? and 72 attached by snap fasteners '74- along the length of the beams 33 and 40. The side panels 74 and 72, as shown, are separate from the rear panel 75 which extends across the back of posts 16 and 18. Roof panel 78 is attached by snap fasteners 80 or the like to the beams 38 and 40 and also to the rear transverse brace 56. To achieve one of the important objects of the invention the side panels 70 and 72 are made separate from the rear panel 76 so that the side panels together with the roof panel and beams will be elevated when the patron jumps upward or simply stands up.

Reference is now made to FIGURES and 11. Shelter 10a comprises an optional front panel 86 which may be used with the shelter of FIGURE 1, and a sectional transverse brace 56a. The transverse brace 56a which responds in function to brace 56 is made of two or more pieces 89 and 90 joined together by clamp 91 (FIGURE 11). This is to laterally enlarge the shelter 10a to accommodate more than one person. Sections 89 and 90 may be made of any length within the limits of practicability and they are held together at the adjacent ends by means of clamp 91. The clamp is made of a sleeve 92 having a thumb screw 93 threadedly passed thereinto and adapted to engage a surface of section 90. The sleeve is welded or otherwise secured to section 89 and by fitting section 90 into the bore of sleeve 92 and tightening the thumb screw 38 the sections may be easily and quickly joined together.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A spectator shelter comprising, in combination, a bleacher seat, a frame structure including a pair of spaced posts, means for removably securing said posts on the rear portion of said seat, a horizontal rod extending between the upper end portions of the posts and detachably secured thereto, a pair of arms pivotally mounted for vertical swinging movement on said upper end portions of said posts and adapted to overlie the seat in spaced relation thereto in a horizontal operative position, and a flexible covering removably mounted on the frame structure, said covering comprising a roof panel having its marginal side portions overhanging the arms and detachably secured thereon, said covering further comprising a rear panel integral with the roof panel and depending therefrom over the rod, said covering still further comprising side panels having their upper end portions detachably secured to the arms beneath overhanging side portions of the roof panel, and props hingedly mounted on the posts and operatively engageable with the arms for supporting same in said horizontal operative position, said arms being unattached to the props and resting by gravity thereon and the side panels being freely suspended on the arms whereby said arms with the roof panel thereon are freely swinga-ble upwardly from said horizontal operative position and out of engagement with the props when an occupant of the seat arises therefrom.

2. The combination of claim 1, wherein said securing means includes right angularly bent lower end portions on the posts engageable beneath the seat, clamping arms mounted for vertical sliding adjustment on the posts, setscrews on the clamping arms engageable with the posts for securing said clamping arms in adjusted position, and clamping screws threadedly mounted on the clamping arms and engageable with the seat.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 184,459 Coates Nov. 21, 1876 382,493 Smith May 8, 1888 386,800 Bryant July 31, 1888 406,121 Adams July 2, 1889 805,603 Way et al. Nov. 28, 1905 886,222 Koiner et al. Apr. 28, 1908 2,634,740 Duke Apr. 14, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 3,040 Great Britain Mar. 3, 1886 1,107,879 France Aug. 17, 1955 

